Kingston High School revamp options expected in February

KINGSTON, N.Y. -- The school district's architectural consultants are developing alternatives to the proposed $92 million Kingston High School overhaul, and Superintendent Paul Padalino expects to receive them by mid-February.

Padalino met recently with KSQ Architects to discuss the specifics of what he would like to see in the new options. He wants the alternatives to take into account the district's plan to divide the high school campus on Broadway in Midtown Kingston into several academies geared toward preparing students for specific college and career paths.

At the same time, Padalino said, he is looking for a plan with flexibility.

The academy concept grew out of recommendations the state Education Department made to address low graduation rates among poor and minority students at Kingston High School.

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"Any physical changes we make in the high school have to mesh well with the education delivery changes that we're deciding to make," Padalino told the Kingston school board on Wednesday. "But also, we have to have the understanding that today's decision on whether we go to houses or academies or small learning communities is today's decision."

If that philosophy changes in the long run, Padalino said, the district needs to be able to work around it.

Padalino, who was a social studies teacher in the Troy school district from 1997 to 2001, recalled working in a building designed to be a "school without walls."

"Millions of dollars were spent on this school without walls, and it's beautiful. It's still beautiful to this day," the superintendent said. "But the teachers have built walls with bookshelves and filing cabinets. It was an idea that, for a little while, worked, and it was trendy. But there was no idea for flexibility. So (KSQ Architects) are working on ... how we can meet the needs of today ... but also (that) we don't mortgage the future on it."

School board President Matthew McCoy asked Padalino to include BBL Construction Services in the deliberations as much as possible in case the contract with the firm the district chose as its construction manager expires before the project gets off the ground.

Board member James Shaughnessy urged fellow board members and administrators to keep the project moving forward because it appears unlikely the district will be able to get the proposal on the ballot in May, as district officials once hoped.

"I think the condition of the high school is really a major drag on student performance," said Shaughnessy, a former president of the board.

If the project is approved by district voters, Shaughnessy said, it will be two years before construction starts, given the need to draw up more refined architectural plans and get state approvals.

"It's several years away before we will see any major improvement, and (the building) will just continue to deteriorate" in the meantime, he said.